Speaking Out for Human Rights

By Jimmy Carter

I know how easy it is to overlook the persecution of others when your own rights and freedoms are not in jeopardy. I grew up in south Georgia within a legally segregated society, and to the extent that I or my elders felt any responsibility at all for the status of my black playmates, the "separate but equal" ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed sufficient. As a child, I rode a bus to school each day with the other white students, while the black children walked, and never gave a thought to the lack of equality inherent in the separateness. Neither did the adults who managed the education system, nor the lawyers and judges in our courts, nor the Governor, nor those who led our Government in Washington and were responsible for the administration of justice in our great and free nation. It seems almost unbelievable, but only after I had served in the Navy for eleven years, returned home to live, enrolled my oldest son in the same school I had attended and had become a member of the Sumter County board of education did I finally come to acknowledge that black schoolchildren were still walking to their separate school.

It took years of bitter and divisive struggles to change this kind of broad discrimination. During the heat of those legal contests, when some blood was spilled, it was shocking to observe the degree of racial prejudice among people I admired and knew to be otherwise fair-and kind and compassionate. Some of them became expert at finding Bible scriptures to prove that God wanted them to be fair, kind, compassionate--and racist.

It was deeply moving to see the end of legal segregation in the South and to observe the immediate benefits that came to all of us. To me, the political and social transformation of the Southland was a powerful demonstration of how moral principles should and could be applied effectively to the legal structure of our society.

I had pointed out in my speech accepting the Democratic nomination for President in July 1976: "Ours was the first nation to dedicate itself clearly to basic moral and philosophical principles ... a revolutionary development that captured the imagination of mankind." It was time for us to capture the imagination of the world again. I was familiar with the arguments that we had to choose between idealism and realism, between morality and the exertion of power; but I rejected those claims. To me, the demonstration of American idealism was a practical and realistic approach to foreign affairs, and moral principles were the best foundation for the exertion of American power and influence.

I was determined to combine support for our more authoritarian allies and friends with the effective promotion of human rights within their countries. By inducing them to change their repressive policies, we would be enhancing freedom and democracy and helping to remove the reasons for revolutions that often erupt among those who suffer from persecution. We might therefore accomplish our purposes without replacing a rightist totalitarian regime with a leftist one of the same oppressive character. A human rights effort would also help strengthen our influence among developing nations that were still in the process of choosing their future friends and trading partners. And it was the right thing to do.

I was often criticized for aggravating other government leaders and straining international relations. At the same time, I was never criticized by the people who were imprisoned or tortured or otherwise deprived of basic rights. When they were able to make a public statement or to smuggle out a private message, they sent compliments and encouragement, pointing out repeatedly that the worst thing for them was to be ignored or forgotten. This was particularly true among political prisoners behind the Iron Curtain.

It will always be impossible to measure how much was accomplished by our nation's policy when the units of measurement are not inches or pounds or dollars. The lifting of the human spirit, the revival of hope, the absence of fear, the release from prison, the end of torture, the reunion of a family, the new-found sense of human dignity--these are difficult to quantify, but I am certain that many people were able to experience them because the United States of America let it be known that we stood for freedom and justice for all people.

The abuse of human rights is still a serious problem in too many lands. The world cannot be improved by one dramatic act or by one nation's transient policy; the wheels of justice turn slowly--often very slowly. However, I know that the suffering of some people was eased and that others were given new hope. The world was reminded by salvaged lives that America cares about freedom and justice, a sufficient accomplishment to justify all our efforts.

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